Uzbek soum remains stable: supported by gold and slowing inflation

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — As of 21 May 2026, the Uzbek soum against the US dollar remained at around 12,055. This means that despite intra-week fluctuations, the soum has maintained a relatively stable position from last week to the current one.

It is noted that in the previous week, in the earlier review, the dollar was also at the level of 12,053 soums. Before that, the soum had declined by 0.67%.

Overall, May has been neutral for Uzbekistan’s national currency: movements have occurred, but they have been relatively logical.

The domestic news background remains neutral.

Inflation in Uzbekistan in April remained stable at 0.6% month-on-month for the third consecutive month. In annual terms, price growth declined to 7%. It is important to note that this is the lowest level since 2017. Since the beginning of the year, inflation has amounted to 2.5%, which is below last year’s pace. These figures confirm a general slowdown in price pressure.

Price dynamics across segments remain uneven. Food price growth has slowed, non-food goods are increasing moderately, while services remain a more sensitive component, although annual rates have also significantly declined in this category.

This indicates a gradual but still uneven cooling of inflation.

Additional macroeconomic stability is supported by reserves. In the first quarter, the Central Bank of Uzbekistan purchased 25 tons of gold and became one of the largest buyers globally.

The growth of gold and foreign exchange reserves strengthens the resilience of the financial system and reduces external risks. This indirectly supports price and soum stability.

In the coming week, the USD/soum pair is expected to move within the range of 11,960–12,120 soums.

Anna Bodrova, analyst at Alpari